Currently, 77 Christians a week are being killed for their faith. How is dying under the AntiChrist any different that Arab Christians being beheaded by Muslims, or North Korean Christians being worked and starved to death in their gulag?
The whole premise depends on living to see the Rapture. There are literally billions of people sleeping in Christ today. What I was writing about was the Last Days when the Bridegroom comes for His Bride. The problem will arise when a Christian has been "double minded or luke warm" and is left behind where they buy and sell. The picture is the same as Noah's Flood. The elect of God built the Ark and got inside 7 days before the first drop of rain fell. Rain was the wrath of God's punishment on unbelievers as God destroyed the earth. Can you hear the people beating on the side of the Ark and hear the screams of the people trying to get inside the Ark for safety? God shut the door from the outside and the door can't be opened. Scripture says Jesus is the "Door". God shuts doors that can't be opened and opens doors that can't be shut. Another type and shadow of the Rapture and God's wrath is Sodom and Gomorrah. Lot was taken out of Sodom before the brimstone fell. Jesus said He would return as it was in the days of Noah and as it was in the days of Lot.
The point is are you willing to give your life to Jesus as He gave His life for you? He doesn't require you to commit suicide, but just to live your life for Him. If you are double minded or luke warm and you still live your carnal life while insisting you are Christian, He may require you to physically die in your flesh to go to Heaven. Until Jesus returns we all die of something. But if He comes while you are alive in the flesh, you will want to be found following Christ in Brotherly Love to be taken in the Rapture. To love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself covered the whole 10 Commandments according to Jesus.
I hate to say it but, IMO, The majority of the church thinks they will go with Jesus at the Rapture, but there will be much less than we think. There were 7 churches in Rev 2-3, but only one has the promise to avoid the Tribulation.(Rev 3:10) The Rev churches are told that they are close, but they must overcome the called out problem to be taken. He tells them what they are doing right and what He sees them doing wrong.
One thing I have observed is everybody thinks they are good and see nothing to repent for. You could talk to a prisoner in prison for murder and they will most likely say it was only one, or it was the victims fault. Most Christians believe they repented back when they were baptized so they are good enough now.Scripture says we must repent and God is quick to forgive. The ones that won't repent after the sin "will be beaten with many stripes". God will discipline the children He loves. The law Jesus paid for was the law of sin and death. If you sin, you repent and you don't have the second death. Matthew 5 says the 10 Commandments will never die until Heaven and earth pass away.
Another answer to your question is God never promised MEN wouldn't persecute you. In fact He promised MEN would persecute you. His promise was you are NOT a child of HIS wrath. You could be murdered tonight living in Portland and God is innocent. These Christians being beheaded are being murdered by men. It's very important to be repented up and prayed up.
What if these people that are dying all around the world told their captors Jesus was not he Son of God and I accept Allah and their captors let them go? Will God give them a mulligan after we killed God's son? If you reject the salvation Jesus gave you, then you are self righteous and will be judged as such. If you don't eat His flesh and drink His blood, you have no part in Him. Many think they are "good enough" to receive mercy from God.